The Storm Beyond
by Dreams of Shadows
Summary: Rewrite of In My Hands. If you were the one who found yourself in the Avengers world would it be a dream for you? Jess finds out the hard way as she is plunged right into the depths of the story; where she must work to find away home before the Tesseracts is locked away forever. But S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't to keen to trust her, and Loki has answers to questions she didn't know she had.
1. Chapter1:Be Careful What You Wish For

**Chapter One: Be Careful What You Wish For**

_'I don't want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted just like that, and it didn't mean anything? What then?' - Neil Gaiman, Coraline._

You can spend all your life dreaming of a moment, but no matter what the moment you will almost always end up facing a disappointing reality. Literally in some cases. Take me for example, your average 24yr old nerd; I have spent many years of my life imagining and reimagining what it would be like to meet the many favourite characters I've had over the years, from the Teletubbies right up to the crew of the starship _USS Enterprise._I never imagined though that in all my life I'd find myself at a moment where it would all come true... If you'd have asked me any time before that if I would have liked to meet the Avengers I probably would have cheered loudly and insist we set off at once. If you were to ask me now though...

To say I was happy when the weekend came around would be an understatement. When I woke up on Saturday morning, the sunlight filtering through the gaps in the curtains along with an accompaniment of seagulls screeching from the rooftops, I rolled over enough to read the time on the grinning cat clock adorning the wall opposite and rolled back with the goal of sleeping until it was at least noon. I'd spent my whole week covering everyone else's shifts so I deserved to have at least two days of pure laziness before heading back to face the hungry hoardes.

My mobile began to ring. Apparently the world had other ideas about this. Muttering to myself angrily I reached out from under the covers, grasping about blindly for the phone and switching it to voicemail before shoving it under my pillow and retreating under my duvet.

"Hello, Jessica," said the muffled, but still familiar voice. "This is your dad calling you- for the tenth or so time this week. We actually need an answer regarding your attendance of the wedding, your sister will be upset if you don't answer soon- she's already worried enough. Just pick up the phone for once or at least send the invitation back, then we go back to ignoring each other. This is the happiest moment of Ashley's life and I will not have you ruining it for her."

I didn't pick up the phone, though guilt momentarily compelled me to do so. Upon remembering that my parents were evil and my sister had never had the time of day for me before though the guilt resolved itself. '_If you want me to pick up the phone then why don't you apologise for being a bastard to me during my life',_ I thought to myself, yawning and sinking into the grips of sleep once again.

A few hours later I awoke feeling much more refreshed and cheerful. I threw the covers back, sliding out from my warm nest and heading into the bathroom for a quick shower. The steaming waters washed the last vestiges of sleep away, and as I towelled off before slipping into my lazy clothes- a pair of old jeans and a T-shirt belonging to a former boyfriend- I found myself wondering if I would in fact go to my sisters wedding. As much as we fought and argued, we were still family in the end and she had been a good sister at times._ 'I wonder what kind of man she's marrying.'_ Ashley took after our mother, tall and statuesque with auburn hair and bright green eyes- a beautiful woman with a good head on her shoulders. She was any man's ideal woman. Me on the other hand, I was more on the short side with long, black hair and dark blue eyes mixed with a hint of grey- I was more akin to what our grandfather had been when he was young.

I shook my head to banish those thoughts, I wasn't one to concentrate on appearances, I preferred my intelligence over that sort of nonsense any day of the year. Dressed, I opted to retreat downstairs and grab a few Poptarts for a late lunch. Sticking them in the toaster I went into the living room and switched on the television, surfing through the channels until I came to a Pointless marathon. The toaster regurgitated my food, which I plucked quickly from the slots and dropped quickly on the plate, blowing on my stinging fingers. I went back into the living room and collapsed onto the faux leather sofa, surrounding myself with throw cushions as I wiggled into a comfortable position.

"Let the laziness commence!" I declared- because I could- and took my first bite.

My mobile began to ring.

I checked the caller ID to see if it was my dad again, only to realise with a grimace that it was in fact my boss._ 'Don't answer!'_ my mind screamed at me. 'She_ can find someone else to cover!'_ Before I realised it though I was holding the phone up to my ear and I could hear the overly enthusiastic voice of Juni speaking to me.

"Hiya, Jay!" She said with all the enthusiasm of someone who's just won the lottery. The sounds of the cafés kitchen could be heard in the background, which included an argument being carried out regarding magic ketchup. "Listen, Chris just called in to say he can't make it in today and I was hoping you could cover his shift. Pretty please!"

_'Why can't you do it? Dragging some boy toy off to the Belle Lune's grand opening are you?'_

"I'm not sure," I answered, my free hand throttling one of the cushions. "I'm just too exhausted from all the other shifts I've had to cover this week."

"I'll pay you extra for this one as well; it's only until closing time," she added as I went to refuse. "I can't get anyone else to come in on such short notice."

Something told me she wasn't going to give up until I agreed to do this and so although I resented the idea wholeheartedly, I finally agreed to cover his shift.

"Great! I'll see you in about half an hour then." With that she hung up.

The clock on the wall showed it to be almost half past four- there was no way Chris would have called in at this time to say he couldn't do it. After all, he and I were apparently the only responsible senior staff there. She probably got the call a few days ago but completely forgot to ask anyone about it.

There was no point complaining though. I reluctantly abandoned the safety of the sofa, changed into my work uniform and quickly scarfed down the rest of the Poptarts before heading off to work. The summer sun shone brightly in the sky, a light breeze dancing playfully through the trees and aiding the birds as they soared high into the sky. I failed to notice this though as I daydreamed about electric mucus spaceships and idiot delivery boys who did the nasty in the past-y.

It was almost five as I turned up at the café, Juni apparently having long since vanished I noticed. Only a couple of the old-fashioned tables were filled and Jack sat behind the till looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. I nodded to him as I walked past and into the office, scribbling my name down on the attendance sheet on the notice board, plucking off a note with my name scrawled across the top.

'Hey Jay, sorry I couldn't stick around- important business had to be attended to. ;) I trust you know what you're doing though. Juni.'

_'I know I'm giving up my Saturday night so you can ditch your duties to go hang with your newest lover.'_ I crumpled up the paper before throwing it in the recycling bin.

"Has it been a busy day?" I asked Jack as I came out of the back. I guessed from the seventeen year olds face that it was unlikely to have been.

"Nah, everyone's going to that new restaurant's grand opening," he replied, confirming my suspicions.

I resigned myself to boredom that evening, only a few more customers gracing our café with their presence and a recently infatuated chef having anything to talk about. Once the doors had closed and we were finished for the night, I headed home without a moment's hesitation. After a quick dinner and a few films I retreated to bed, my last thoughts along the lines of: _'I wish my life was more interesting.'_

* * *

The next day was the start of the all the trouble, it began with a light breakfast and a quick jog across the seafront before I returned home to collapse on my bed. My head sinking nicely into the soft pillows and bringing comfort to my muscles- I let out a sigh. Strands of my hair curtained across my face, I brushed them away without a thought and reached for my laptop which sat perched on the bedside table waiting forlornly to be used again. The lid opened with a quiet click, the screen lighting up almost immediately after pressing the button. My phone buzzed from inside my jeans. I pulled it out without much interest. As I suspected it was from one of my friends- the one who always gets dumped around a certain time. I didn't feel up to playing the comforter this time around and placed it on the table, picking it up again on second thoughts and switching it off- in case Junk had any more shifts that needed to be covered.

The next hour or so I spent surfing the net, answering my emails and catching up on my shows. Only when the lunchtime hour came around did I think it was time to get up again. A quick shower and a new change of clothes later, and I was ready. A quick check in the mirror, then back over to the table to pick up my phone and a barrage of messages as I turned it on again. Guilt churned in my stomach for a moment. I dismissed it though after seeing most of the messages were from my phone network and sent one of my own to Tonya. I hadn't seen her in a while since she'd been on holiday in the Swiss Alps (Or so she said) and I thought it would be could to catch lunch with her.

It was around about then that it happened.

A movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head sharply, freezing as I spotted the hovering ball of blue light-stuff that was... Well, hovering there. In the time it took my mind the formulate a response, the ball began expanding. Parts of it reached out, recoiled and others would reach out and recoil. As it grew larger and larger, forming a large circular shape that shimmered and flickered almost hypnotically. The centre began to retreat back, pulling towards the furthermost edges and revealing a view that was most definitely not my wall.

It opened into a large-ish room my addled brain struggled to associate with conference rooms. A long table filled the view surrounded my chairs that were made of the same steely grey material everything else appeared to be. The image on the wall was what caught my attention though, a black eagle with wings outspread and the acronym underneath that I knew meant something to me. But the shock of it all made it hard for me to formulate any ideas and all I could do was stare, waiting for something to appear, but there was no movement from the other side.

It took a few minutes, but eventually I felt I could move. Slowly, ever so cautiously I approached and tried to make sense of what had just happened. Hand raise slightly in front of me I shuffled closer and closer. There was still no movement from the other side. I stood centimetres away from this...whatever it was._ 'It looks like the Tesseract portal from Avengers Assemble.' _The thought was dismissed as soon as it formed. I mean why on earth would there be a Tesseracts portal in my room?!_ 'Why would there be a portal at all?'_

Cautiously I raised my hand, reaching out to it and flinching back as a tendril lashed out and licked over my hand- like a miniature blue solar flare. A sharp tingling sensation spread across my skin, but there was no pain or sudden disintegration of my hand. Feeling a little braver I put my hand a little closer. More tendrils snaked across my hand, seeping into my skin and making me glow from the inside.

"That's creepy," I muttered to myself as for a moment the bones of my hand became visible to me. "That's very creepy."

But I felt no fear. Even as the energy continued to spread up my arm I stayed calm. Bizarrely it was a calming experience, a part of me knew to trust this energy and not to fear it. Even as it began to pull me into it, as my heart began to beat faster and the rest of me screamed to get away now. I tried as hard as I could, but the energy could have been as a solid as diamond for all it mattered.

A stream of curse words escaped my lips as I twisted around, pulling away from it only to feel my other arm become entangled in the energy. My feet just dragged along the carpet, another tendril snaking around my waist to stop me from falling. I struggled and struggled until I was red in the face, swearing continuously even as sweat rolled down my face and my body was completely engulfed in the energy.

For a few moments it felt as though I was surrounded by nothing but this energy. A sense of being alone in a large ocean of nothingness that chilled me to the core, and then it was over. I was standing in the room I had previously been looking at through the portal, and my bedroom was the image on the other side. At least it was for the few seconds it took for the portal to begin to close in on itself again. A single tear trailed down my face as the last remanents of my room vanished from view. I was alone again.

I turned around so I could get a better sense of where I was, and the last thing I saw was a flash of red and black. Then nothing.

**A/N: Yes, I'm doing a rewrite of In My Hands- it won't be exactly the same now, I'm adding new parts (as you may have noticed) and editing others to actually get some sort of proper plot into this thing. Does this mean I won't be continuing Our Tangled Web? Perhaps not, for the moment anyway. I want to improve on the original story and I hope you like the update as much as I do. - Dreams of Shadows.**


	2. Chapter2:Between A Rock And A Hard Place

**Chapter Two: Between A Rock And A Hard Place**

When consciousness found me again, it was accompanied with a sharp, steady pounding in my skull and the faintest sensation of disorientation. I felt the soft surface of a mattress underneath me, sunlight shining through my eyelids and warming the skin it kissed. For a few moments I was content to lay there, relaxing and allowing my headache to pass away by itself. For a few moments I felt at peace... Then I remembered.

_'There was a portal!'_

My eyes flew open, and I sat upright with a suddenness that left my head spinning. I leant against my hand, allowing the sensation to pass before I cautiously began to take in my surroundings.

It was a small room, with nothing but the bed I was lying on inside, with everything either a shade of grey or white. The same logo I had seen in the other room was emblazoned on the wall opposite as if to remind its occupant of who was in charge of this place.

_'S.H.I.E.L.D., this has got to be some sort of crazy dream...'_

But my dreams had never been this realistic, I could see the very dust particles filtering through the sunlight and smell the very metal the room appeared to be made of. I shifted back around to the smallish window to my right and peered out of it, a pit of dread forming in my abdomen. There was nothing but blue seas and sky. I fancied I saw the vague shadowy outline of land off in the distance, but it was just as likely my mind was imagining it.

_'Just as I'm imagining this?'_

I wasn't though, the same part that had told me to trust the portal told me that now. I really had gone through a portal and ended up here, wherever here was. Well, with giant symbol on the wall and an ocean view it could really only be one place. A mixture of excitement and fear rose up in me and I unconsciously gripped the sheets of the bed tightly in my fists. However I didn't freak out, I didn't panic and _that _part of me made sure of it. 'Now is no time to lose your head' it seemed to say, brushing all of those nasty emotions away.

I disagreed strongly with that part of me, but appreciated it nonetheless- freaking out was unlikely to do me any good. I shifted around yet again, swinging my legs from out of the bed and setting them down on the ground. My hands were placed either side of me to prop me up, but I made no move to stand and simply stared down at my feet. So many questions were swarming around my head it was almost impossible to tell them apart. But the sinking feeling they left inside my gave no doubts about there contents. After all if you were snatched away from everything you knew what would you ask yourself?

I looked out of the window, gazing out to the oceans as I'd done at home. Except here I couldn't hear the seagulls...

I didn't realise I was crying until I could taste saltiness in my mouth. I rubbed at my face, forcing myself to remain calm and just relax. It was a good thing too I realised as the door slid opened with a quiet hiss and my attention was taken by the man who now walked into the room. He stood a few steps inside, a calm smile on his face and with the general appearance of a school teacher. I recognised him immediately, even if I didn't want to.

"I'm going to need you to come with me," said Agent Phil Coulson, his hands clasped together in front of him and a friendly tone in his voice. It was often hard to think of this man as being a super tough secret agent in the films and even now as I watched him with wariness he remained so tame. I had no idea what to make of it and I found I could do nothing but mentally ask myself over and over if I was going crazy. "Is there a problem, miss?"

I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak at that moment. In the same movement I pushed myself to my feet.

"There's no problem," I replied, my own voice a contrast to his. He nodded once, making an 'after you' gesture as he stepped back to let me pass. I looked out of the room to the two armed agents who stood outside and half considered refusing. It was a move that would most likely end me in a load of trouble and so I decided against it, obediently walking out into the hallway and waiting for Coulson so he could lead the way.

Not a word was spoken as we went down the corridor. It was simultaneously relaxing and worrying, so I set my attention to my surroundings. For most of the part it was a long corridor occasionaly embellished with the same logo which adorned my new room's wall, the doors that occupied it giving no view into the rooms beyond them and I wondered if this was a prison block. We walked on until we came to a door that looked no different from any other and the two guards who had accompanied us took post on either side of it. Coulson once again made that gesture and I approached the door as though it might suddenly attack. It opened onto an empty room, with the same colour scheme as everything else with the added bonus of a small table with a chair on each side and what I assumed was a two-way mirror.

The door slid shut behind me, leaving me alone with only silence for company. For a few heartbeats I waited for the door on the opposite side to swing open, when it didn't I took a seat and folded my arms across my chest. I continued to watch the door. What felt like hours passed before it finally did swing open and when it did I sorely wished that it hadn't. It had been a joke of me and my friends that Samuel L. Jackson was the top level of badassery available. Having his version of the director opposite reminded me of how pitifully short a description fell of the real thing.

The very moment he set foot into the room it was as if someone had turned up the intensity of the moment. His piercing glare almost had me quivering in my boots and if I had been a lesser person I may have burst out crying underneath that gaze. Imagine that moment just before your parents or headmaster prepares to grill you about your actions, imagine your actions were some of the worst you had ever taken and then imagine that a thousand times more intense. He was a terrifying person and I wanted to get out of that room as fast as possible- no, even faster.

He stood in the doorway for a few moments, studying me over before taking the seat opposite me and fixing me with that glare once again before he finally decided to speak.

"My name is Nick Fury, I'm the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. In case you don't realise, that stands for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." He paused for a moment and I urged myself not to move from my crossarmed position- although I wasn't sure I could if I wanted to. "Now please tell me, who are you and what the hell you are doing on my ship?"

It felt as though I had momentarily forgotten everything as I quivered under his look. Forget the headmaster, this was like facing down my own executioner. One false move and he'd probably have me locked away in his most remote prison.

"My name," I began after a few beats, amazed at how calm my voice seemed to be. "Is Jessica Attwater and quite honestly I have no idea why I'm on your ship."

His eye narrowed slightly and his lips tightened. Evidently that hadn't been the correct thing to say, and to be honest I couldn't have cared less. It wasn't like telling the truth would make a big difference here.

"Who do you work for?" His tone was more forceful now.

"I work for Sun Raise Café," I snapped, my nerves fraying, the urge to flee growing stronger and only the fact I felt frozen under his glare was keeping me there. "And as much as I want to sit here and play 'good cop, bad cop' I'd much rather you called your portal back up and send me home."

"Our portal?" He repeated, almost in disbelief.

"Well I sure as hell didn't open it." I was almost baring my teeth in frustration by the end of the sentence. He surely couldn't believe that I had the expertise of knowhow to open up a portal to another dimension.

"Perhaps then I should be asking you why we have no record of your existence until up to now?" Fury's voice had begun to raise slightly as well as he became frustrated with what would seem to him like a lack of cooperation on my part. He leant onto the desk with what appeared to Bea mixture of falsified interest and an urge to leap across the table and forcibly remove the information. "We've ran the face recognition programme several times and there is no trace of your presence at all."

"Maybe because none of this is real!" I hissed before I could stop myself. "Or at least that's the way it should be."

That made him pause, he sat back once again and his head tilted slightly, almost quizzically as he studied me again.

"What the hell are you going on about?"

"How about the fact that where I come from you are nothing but a fictional character." I forced out, waving my arms as much as one cane when they're crossed. I flushed slightly as he laughed.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" I didn't answer and he switched back to being serious. "Pleading for insanity doesn't work here."

"I'm not insane!" I snapped, gripping my arms tightly. As I thought about it though I hesitated slightly. "I'm not insane..."

"Then give us the truth and we can have you sitting in a nice, cosy cell rather than one of us more... Interesting prisons."

I met his gaze momentarily before dropping it. The realisation of what might happen hitting me hard.

"I have told you the truth," I said quietly. "You're all fictional characters and it's only a matter of time before he arrives."

Now Fury looked interested. "Who's he?" He asked, leaning forward.

I hesitate before meeting his gaze one last time.

"He's the actual enemy."

"Who. Is. He?"

"I can't tell you."

I heard his chair squeak as he got back to his feet.

"If you are going to refuse to cooperate then you can expect to be locked up for a very long time."

Without a further word he got to his feet and left. I still didn't move, even as I realised my body was literally shaking with rage and frustration. When I found the strength to move, Coulson stepped into the room in a perfectly timed moment and I followed him back to my cell without another word. I was going to be here for a very long time after all, and as I was once again shut into the room I already began to formulate plans in my head.

There was no way I was going to sit back and play the damsel in distress.


End file.
